As a global fellowship with 14 offices around the world, Interserve has the privilege of sending professionals to work alongside colleagues from various cultural and professional backgrounds.
For Valerie*, one of our cross-cultural workers, this has proven to be a tremendous blessing. Working as an occupational therapist in Asia, she serves with a physical therapist sent from another Interserve office. This partnership is not only a great source of encouragement and camaraderie, but also a means of driving long-lasting change in her place of service. By working together, the two have a much more comprehensive view of rehabilitation needs in the region, which provides unique opportunities to work for the good of local people and make Christ known.
“It’s such a gift to have a teammate and not be alone, but it’s also been great to demonstrate the value of working together. As both of us teach our specialties and train local professionals, we get to model multidisciplinary work, which is relatively uncommon in this region.”
What is particularly exciting about this, Valerie explains, is that it overlaps with a mounting interest at the local level to build capacity in allied health and the rehabilitation sector. In that sense, she and her teammate have the privilege of stepping into something God is already doing to transform communities in this region.
“There’s a lot of eagerness to change at the local level,” she says. “It’s been amazing to see God call professionals from around the world to be part of this movement, and it’s really exciting to work with them to make a more sustainable impact on the rehabilitation system.”
In a lot of ways, Valerie explains, their approaches defy locals’ expectations of what foreign aid looks like.
“Foreigners often come in and teach courses for a couple of weeks, but these are ‘Band-Aid’ options that have failed to create effective change.”
“A two-week training can provide technical skills, but reframing someone’s understanding of rehabilitation in a two-week course is impossible,” she continues. “What our local professionals most need is proficiency in clinical reasoning and evidence-based practice – and developing that requires years of training in different subjects taught through that lens.”
“However, local people are conditioned to think, ‘Short- term training is what expats offer. This is what foreign aid is.’ I don’t blame them for expecting that from us, but my teammates and I are trying to push beyond these expectations by investing in the medical education system and expanding educational pathways. It’s been a joy to collaborate with such excellent professionals to build this kind of vision for this region.”
*Name changed.